Police SMASH into dementia sufferer's car after he drives WRONG WAY down M6 Toll

TRAFFIC police were forced to smash into a dementia sufferer's car after he was caught travelling at 50mph down the WRONG way of a motorway.

A driver with dementia was caught travelling the wrong way down the M6 [GETTY]

Officers were called to the M6 toll in the West Midlands at around 9:50pm yesterday after reports flooded in to say a Honda Jazz was heading south on the northbound carriageway, between junction T5 and T4.

They were forced to take drastic action by crashing into the side of the car to get it to stop.

Afterwards officers discovered that the driver was a 77-year-old man with dementia who had been reported missing by his family.

Inspector Mark Watkins, from the Central Motorway Police Group, said that officers only smash into cars if there is a significant threat to other road users.

"It's a recognised pursuit tactic in order to bring incidents to a conclusion, and is only used if there's a risk to life," he said.

@CMPG Toll road closed momentarily while vehicles/debris removed. One officer slightly injured. All members of public safe.

This was an extremely unusual situation where the driver of the car had shown no intention to stop travelling in the wrong direction

Inspector Mark Watkins

"That forced the car to stop, and it came to a halt in lane three."

The toll road where the crash took place was closed momentarily to clear the debris.

The driver was checked over after the incident and was returned home to his family in Rowley Regis, West Midlands, unharmed while one officer suffered a minor injury.

Inspector Watkins praised the entire team of officers for their brave actions.

He said: "This was an extremely unusual situation where the driver of the car had shown no intention to stop travelling in the wrong direction.

"Traffic officers bravely took the decision to engineer a collision with the vehicle and I am sure that their selfless actions have prevented serious injury or worse to the driver and other motorists on the road.

"We were relieved that we could bring this situation to a safe conclusion and return the man home safe and well to his family."